What is The Lord of the Rings About?
If you had to guess the main theme of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, what would you guess?
You may be surprised by what Tolkien himself said was the main theme. In a BBC interview in 1968, he said, “Any large story that interests people and can hold people’s attention for a considerable time, these stories are practically always about one thing aren’t they: Death! Inevitably, death…This is the key spring of The Lord of the Rings.”[1]
Arguably the greatest mythic tale of the last several hundred years was arranged around the theme of death. Fans young and old, from hippies to scholars, continue to be captivated by the characters and adventures of Tolkien’s Middle Earth. And yet, while his story shows what a noble and virtuous life can mean, he also shows us the inevitability of death.
Nothing Will Stop Death
Death is a part of life. Nothing will stop death. Like a quiet but violent storm, it’s coming for us all. This is sobering and perhaps shocking, only because we don’t think about it enough. We live as if this life is all there is, and yet when we do think of death, it can be terrifying. Perhaps because we intuitively know that it’s an enemy, that it’s not part of God’s original design, and that it’s what will bring us face to face with our Maker.
Nothing Will Stop the Promises of God
It’s true that nothing will stop death. But it’s also true that death won’t stop the promises of God. Nothing can stop God from delivering on his promise to bring his people back into his presence again. Death may scare you, but it doesn’t scare away the promises of God.
This is what Genesis 23 is about. This chapter will seem like a random story with no real point. But this chapter (and the next one) are in the Bible to show us that the promises of God don’t expire when God’s people do. As Abraham and Sarah finish their journey through the wilderness of time, we learn that the legacy of God’s covenant is secure with their children. Sarah’s burial and Isaac getting a wife show us that God’s promises are continuing beyond Abraham’s death.
In Genesis 23, Sarah dies and is buried in the land of Canaan. We’ll read the chapter, discuss its main point, then I want to give you several thoughts about death.
A Land Promised
It’s highly significant that Sarah is buried in the land of Canaan because this is the land that God promised Abraham and his descendants. God called Abram to this land (12:1), but people already lived there (v. 6). So Abraham became a stranger in the land, ineligible to own property.
But God promised to give this land to him and his descendants (v. 7; 13:14-15, 17). He told him that he would “possess” this land (15:7). In 23:19, Moses makes it clear that Sarah’s burial plot was “in the land of Canaan.” This chapter ends by telling us that Abraham finally possessed a piece of this land (v. 20).
Abraham Negotiates for the Land
Sarah’s death becomes the occasion for God to begin to fulfill his promise of giving the land of Canaan to Abraham. We know that this is the main point of the chapter because 16 of the 20 verses (vv. 3-18) are about Abraham’s negotiations with the Hittites for this piece of land.
Abraham didn’t own any land until this. Sarah’s death highlighted the tenuousness of his situation – he didn’t have anywhere to bury his wife. So he approaches the Hittites and asks them for a burial plot (vv. 3-4). He says that he’s a “sojourner and foreigner,” or a “stranger.” In Israel, a “stranger” was not granted any land of their own.
In this chapter, the question underneath the elaborate courtesies was whether Abraham would be able to gain a permanent piece of land or not. Verse 6 is the Hittites attempt to flatter Abraham and induce him to remain a landless “stranger.” They’re saying, “You can use our tombs, but you can’t have our land.”
Abraham used wisdom and skill in his response (vv. 8-9). He understands that it’ll be harder to convince the group, so he singles out an individual, Ephron. Groups tend to resent outsiders, but Abraham reckons that an individual may welcome a customer.
Ephron knew the strength of his position. First he gave Abraham an offer that probably wasn’t a real offer in verse 11. Abraham knows that gifts sometimes come with obligations, so he refuses the offer and is willing to pay full price for the land (v. 13). The price Ephron states in verse 15 is undoubtedly high. But Abraham has no choice, so he wisely accepts it (v. 16). Perhaps he pays such a high price because this piece of land has sentimental value to him (cf. 13:18).
The details of the property in verse 17 and the fact that all of this happened very publicly, “before all who went in at the gate of the city” (v. 18), tells us that this was a legal and official contract. Abraham bought this land fair and square. Moses wants us to see that Abraham would not accept a gift from the Canaanites (cf. 14:22-23). He wants us to see that God, not any man, was the source of Abraham’s hope and blessing.
A Testimony for Israel about God’s Faithfulness
After the negotiations are over, Moses says that Abraham buried Sarah (v. 19). We might expect that to be the end of the narrative. Abraham has accomplished what he sat out to do. But then Moses adds verse 20. He says that the field and the cave became Abraham’s “property,” or “possession.”
What’s he doing here? He’s highlighting the significance of this event for the nation of Israel. In this event, the Lord is beginning to fulfill his promise of the land. This would’ve brought great assurance to the nation of Israel as they stood on the banks of the Jordan preparing to go into the Land of Promise. Moses is reminding them that the Lord can be trusted to fulfill his promise of giving them the land. He said he’d do it for Abraham, and he did. So he can do it for them too. This testimony of God’s faithfulness gave their hearts comfort and courage as they faced the unknown across the Jordan.
A Down Payment on the Promised Land
Abraham’s purchase of the cave at Machpelah is the first piece of property the Hebrews own in the land of Canaan. It serves as a down payment for their eventual claim on the whole land. It’s a sign that the promise of the land is becoming a reality, no matter how slowly.
We’ve seen why it’s important that Abraham purchases this land, but why is it important that Sarah is buried here? Because it tells us that Abraham believed that death doesn’t nullify the promises of God. All three of the patriarchs and their wives would be buried in this cave (25:9; 49:29-32; 50:13). Joseph also wanted to make sure he was buried in Canaan (50:25; Ex. 13:19).
By leaving their bones in Canaan, the patriarchs were affirming their belief in the promises of God beyond death. We typically want to be buried near our home. The patriarchs wanted to be buried in a land that would be their home eventually. This is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about when he says, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles in the earth” (v. 13).
Abraham believed that not even death could stop the promises of God. So he boldly approaches the Hittites and pays a premium price for a piece of their land so that he could bury his wife in the land that God said would be his. He believed that God’s promises would outlast death.
Reflections on Death
Nothing will stop death, and nothing will stop the promises of God. How do you think about death? How does death shape your faith and your life? Here are ten thoughts about death:
First, we don’t think about death enough. In a culture addicted to positivity, thinking about death is avoided as a killjoy. But listen to Moses in Psalm 90:12, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Or David in Psalm 39:4, “O Lord, make me know my end…let me know how fleeting I am!” They actually want God to help them think about their death. Because they know it’ll produce wisdom.
Churches used to have their own cemeteries, so you’d walk past the dead every Sunday on your way into church. That surely had a way of shaping people’s worship, and their lives. Thinking about death is good for those who want wisdom.
Second, we will all die. Doctors still haven’t found a cure for old age. No one on the earth gets out alive. We’re all “prisoners doomed to die” (Ps. 102:20). And the odd thing is that we chose this prison when we chose to assert ourselves against God and put ourselves where only God deserves to be. The Bible calls this sin. Death is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin (Gen. 2:15-17). Sin broke the shalom of God’s world. Unlike Tolkien’s immortal elves, we all “return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (3:19). Romans 5:12, “Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” No innocent people die. Everyone dies because everyone has broken God’s rules and substituted themselves for God. And, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). If you’ve ever broken one of God’s commands, then you’re on death row. And the divine court never makes a mistake.
Third, we should grieve over death because it’s unnatural. Abraham wept when Sarah died (Gen. 23:2). Jesus wept when his friend Lazarus died (Jn. 11:35). If death doesn’t create grief then we haven’t felt it as the great enemy that it is.
Fourth, death is not an end, but a beginning. Death results in either waking up to everlasting life or waking up to everlasting death. Daniel 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Hebrews 9:27, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” John 5:28-29, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”
Those who confess their sin to God and trust in Christ will be forgiven and raised to everlasting life upon their death. They’ll stand before God’s judgment with no debts to pay because Jesus already paid them. They’ll enter God’s new world with new bodies. As Frodo told Sam before he departed for the Grey Havens, “You were meant to be solid and whole, and you will be.”[2] All those who make it the end of their race still trusting Christ will be raised “solid and whole.” Shalom will fill the earth and our hearts again. Every sad thing will become untrue.[3] But shame and pain is all that awaits those who turn away from God’s offer of life in Jesus. How could God reward those who ignore and refuse his kindness?
Fifth, death should chasten our ambitions. Death reminds us that we’re mist (Ja. 4:14). We should remember that one day we’ll be forgotten. Can you remember the names of your great-grandparents? All our big plans will lie silent in the grave. Death’s certainty creates humility.
Sixth, death makes life worth living. In Christ, we realize that our lives are worth living because they’re not our lives at all. Our mortal life has a beginning and an end. But our real life is “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). This is why Paul can say, “To live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). In Christ, we have freedom to lose our lives in obedience to God and in love for others. Our lives are precious and unique gifts from God, given by God to do his work in this generation. “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world,” Gandalf says, “but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.”[4]
Seventh, death should compel us to evangelize. If people who die apart from Christ go to hell and everlasting death, then love compels us to tell them the gospel. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10:14) We should pray regularly for our non-Christian friends and neighbors and seek to build relationships with them in order to tell them the gospel.
Eighth, death should compel us to disciple the nations. Jesus defines the mission of the church when he says, “Make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). “Making disciples” means helping people follow Jesus. The scope of the mission is “all nations.” Not all geo-political nation states, but all ethnic groups. The reality of death compels us to take the gospel to people groups who’ve never heard Jesus’ name and to help people in our local churches follow Jesus.
Ninth, death should compel us to belong to a church. Not attend church. Belong to a church. This is what we call church membership. In order to help us make it to the end of our journey still believing the gospel, we need the help and encouragement of other Christians. We need weekly reminders of the world to come. Someone has said that the whole purpose of the church’s gathering is to prepare us for our encounters with death. We need weekly glimpses of the world to come. This happens by belonging to a local church, not just showing up at one when it works with your schedule.
Tenth, we need to remember that Jesus defeated death (1 Cor. 15:3-4, 12-19). Jesus’ resurrection guarantees the resurrection of everyone who follows him (vv. 20-23). Because Jesus rose from the dead, we know that all who belong to Jesus will be raised from the dead, given new immortal bodies, and ushered into his new heavens and new earth when he returns.
For Jesus’ people, death is the doorway to life. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (Jn. 8:51). Those who obey his word in the gospel and repent of their sins and put their faith in him will go from life to life, not even “tasting” death (v. 52).
Death Will Bring Us Into Jesus’ Arms
How do you think about death? How does death shape your faith and your life?
Death is a part of life. Nothing will stop death. But death won’t stop the promises of God. Nothing can stop God from bringing his people back into his presence. God’s promises will never die.
Abraham buried Sarah in the land of Canaan because he believed that death doesn’t nullify the promises of God. He was confident that God would do what he said he’d do, even after he died.
Do you have that kind of confidence? Do you have assurance that God will raise you from the dead and accept you into his presence when you die? Or is death still a threat to you?
Faith in Jesus sets us free from the fear of death. We hate death, but in a way the world won’t understand, we look forward to it because it’s what will bring us into Jesus’ arms.
[1]https://twitter.com/TolkienWonder/status/1559400368131305472?s=20&t=s1DdzfwQE-Vd5zHo-90-nA
[2]J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition (New York: Harper Collins, 2004), 1026.
[3]Ibid., 951.
[4]Ibid., 879.